Martín Sacan was always a car lover. In fact, much of his life involved work related to them. But when he emigrated to Germany, he had to abandon his passion for a while in order to earn a living in his new city.
This man from Buenos Aires, who is about to turn 40, chose Berlin as his place to live. And he left with his girlfriend, Sol, with whom they shared the idea of trying their luck outside the country.
“I had a job that I liked and it was good there. I also love Argentina. But well, we both wanted to have the experience of living abroad,” Martín told Clarion.
Although he never completely let go of his relationship with cars, as he maintained some of his work remotely, the low value of the Argentine peso led him to have to go out doing “changas” to generate income: he sold furniture that he found on the street , helped with moving and delivered food by bicycle.
But little by little he found a way to get closer to cars again and make it profitable. So it was that she began to perform sightseeing tours relating the history of Berlin and its emblematic places with automobile culture. That idea grew and this year it will leave the borders of the German capital with the Alemania Petrolhead Tour and will visit museums, factories and mythical places such as the Nurburgring circuit, throughout the German territory.
“At the first devaluation, silver was no longer useful to me”
Martín was born in the city of Buenos Aires in 1984 and His relationship with cars started when he was a boy., influenced by his father. “My old man bought the magazines Road Test y Corsa and that’s how I started to like cars. Plus, he always liked driving and would tell me about cars and stuff. So that’s how I got hooked on the topic of cars.”
That taste grew so much that when he finished high school he ended up writing to Road Test to know what it took to work there. “After the recommendations I started studying social communication and journalism, and four years later I started working at the publishing house, along with Matías Antico,” Martín recalled.
His relationship with cars continued, as over time he moved on to writing TN Online. That relationship with the digital world was what allowed him to keep his job remotely when He emigrated to Germany, in 2019. But those incomes were crumbs in their new reality. “The truth is that at the first devaluation of that moment, the money stopped working for me and I had to think about getting a job here.”
-Why did you decide to leave the country?
-Basically I came. Not for anything in particular, other than that my girlfriend, Sol, and I wanted to live outside of Argentina for a year. I had an Italian passport, but she didn’t, so she got the visa Working Holiday for a year with Germany. We chose Berlin, which is the capital and is the most multicultural and cosmopolitan. And what was originally going to be a year. There are already more than five.
-What did you do after that first devaluation that liquefied those incomes that came from Argentina?
-I had to start looking for alternatives. From reselling furniture that was given to me or I found on the street to helping with moves. In Berlin there are very few elevators, which is a valuable help. And the first job, let’s say formal, was delivery of food by electric bicycle. And it was very important, since it allowed me to get to know the city. I walked through it from end to end and realized that I really liked it. At the same time I was researching and that’s when the idea of taking a tour arose.
-The cars inevitably crossed paths, but I wanted to do something with the city. Then “Berlin, automobile culture” emerged, which is what I started doing in 2019 and which combines the history of the automobile and the history of Berlin. So that was a bit of uniting these two worlds that until that moment had been separated: the world of cars, which was Argentina for me, and Berlin, which was my new city.
-And during the pandemic, how did you do?
-When the pandemic began, the delivery It was an essential service, so it allowed me to continue working and be able to continue paying rent and everything else. Then over time I left it and now I’m focused on tours.
-I also started doing historical tours of the city, that is, I maintain the car tour and also other historical tours of Berlin. In the middle of all this, at the end of the pandemic, an idea arose. I knew Maximiliano Pallocchini, an Argentine who had lived in Berlin for more than 12 years. And I ended up meeting him because he had a Torino here. And with him came the idea of creating Motorius, which is a car and mobility medium made in Germany in the Spanish language, something that did not exist.
-Is this also how the Germany Petrolhead Tour was born?
-That’s how it is. Each one had the idea on their part, to create a tour all around Germany, which we materialized in Germany Petrolhead Tour, which is this tour that we are putting together now. Which basically arises from our desire and our concern to link what we are doing here in Germany with the world of cars.
-What does the tour consist of?
-The trip is 12 days through Germany, walking quite a bit. The route is about 2,000 kilometers, covering everything including museums, some factories, Latin NCAP facilities, where they do crash tests, among other places.
-Those from Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and the Volkswagen Automobile City, better known as Autostadt.
-Are there management opportunities?
-Yes and it is the strongest part of the tour, for those who want to do it. We have two options. One is on the Ring, a circuit on the outskirts of Berlin. There you can choose between six super cars, because there are Porsche 911 GT3, Lamborghini Huracán, Ferrari 488, Mercedes-AMG, GT-S and two track cars are prepared.
-And what is the other option?
-The other is Nürburgring. There you can drive a 190 horsepower Mini Cooper S. There are two free laps in the Northern section of the Green Hell, each lap being 21 kilometers each. The package we offer includes all museums, factories and slopes, plus all hotels and air transfers from Buenos Aires to Berlin and back.
-How can they contact you?
-Through the networks with @motoriustv or by email, which is contact@motorioustv.com
-What does this tour mean to you?
-It combines worlds that for me are one of the things I like the most, which are cars on the one hand and travel on the other. We think about the trip we would like to take. Do it in Spanish so that Spanish-speaking people can do it and we can speak our language and with our codes and we can all understand each other. And to be able to share a little of these passions that are always cars and traveling and everything that revolves around them.
